This is part one of our LoneStar Duals preview. Today we will cover the high schools in the meet. Friday will come the college preview.

By Peter Dewey

High School Division
The Lone Star Duals organizers are saying this is the best high school field in their 9-year history. And, they are right. Two nationally ranked programs – AWN #10 Bishop Lynch (TX) and AWN #20 Oveida (FL) are the class of the field. The two teams are put together differently but if they meet in the finals we’ll have a battle royal.

Bishop Lynch just finished 4th (out of 87 teams) at the toughest in-season tournament anywhere – The Beast of the East – and has one of the country’s best line-ups from 103 to 152.

103 Riley Adamson (4th at Beast)
112 David Staines (La. State placer)
119 Ben Ashmore (2-time Beast Champion)
125 Dak Adamson (All-American)
130 Luke Silver (Beast runner-up)
135 Justin Armstrong – injured and lost for the year
140 Luke Ashmore (Beast runner-up)
145 Johnny Koepp (8th at toughest Beast weight class)
152 Ace Adamson (7th at Beast)
160 – 275 the BL upperweights are an inexperienced group that is not ready to compete at national tournaments (only one made the trip to Delaware).

So far this year in Duals the BL firepower in the lower and middleweights has been enough to compensate for deficiencies at the upper weights. It will be very interesting to see how far the super 8 can carry BL in a 2-day dual format and if any heavyweights can step up and score for the Lynch mob.

Oviedo H.S. (FL)
If Bishop Lynch is built for tournament success then Oviedo is built for dual meet success. Last season Oviedo finished 20-0 in dual competition and set a national record for average margin of victory in dual meets for the season at 63.79. Although sometimes overshadowed by Brandon, Oviedo was state champs in Florida’s largest classification with 10 state qualifiers, 9 placers and 4 champions.

This season 10 starters return from last year including state champs AWN #6 David Green (189) and AWN #1 Kenny Lester (275). So far this season, Oveido continues undefeated in duals. They traveled to Ohio two weeks ago and placed 12th at Ironman with Kenny Lester taking first and David Green second. The results would have been better but AWN #7 Jesse Robbins was injured and couldn’t compete. He will be ready for Lone Star Duals.

Format
24 teams are divided into four pools of six teams. Each team wrestles every other team in its pool. It is a grueling first day of 5 matches. The top two teams in each pool advance to Saturday and wrestle to determine places 1 through 8.

The Pools

Pool A
Lawton (OK)
Durant (FL)
Arl Martin (TX)
SA Churchill (TX)
Katy (TX)
RLTurner (TX)

Lawton is the 2005 LSD Champion and will be out to defend their title. Arlington Martin was runner-up to Lawton last year by the score of 40-33 and will have a score to settle. It is unknown whether either team is as strong as last year’s version. This should open the door for either Durant FL or San Antonio Churchill to pull an upset and advance to Day 2.

Pool B
Cascia Hall (OK)
Coppell (TX)
Arlington (TX)
Creekview (TX)
Centennial (TX)
Austin Anderson (TX)

Tough and balanced pool. Coppell was runner-up here in 2003 (the last of four straight championships for New Orleans Brother Martin). Coppell has a very good dual team as evidenced by their recent win over Highland Park. Arlington has their best team in several years and will be looking to make a statement. Cascia Hall has been to LSD many years in a row and is always tough. They are the wild card in the pool. Creekview and Centennial are similar teams. Both are up and coming programs that would like to prove they have arrived. There are few experienced wrestlers on these squads but plenty of tough kids with two or three year’s experience who get better every match. They may not advance but they will turn some heads and dish out some punishment.

Pool C
Oviedo (FL)
Shawnee (OK)
Allen (TX)
Lamar (TX)
Cedar Park (TX)
Palo Duro (TX)

Oviedo will be out to sweep the pool and look good doing it. It will interesting to see what kind of matches two very solid Texas dual teams – Allen and Lamar - can give them. Shawnee will be looking to beat out both Allen and Lamar to advance to Day 2 and leave all four Texas teams wanting. A couple of good teams are going to find themselves in the bleachers come Saturday.

Pool D
Bishop Lynch (TX)
Austin Bowie (TX)
EP Franklin (TX)
Shaler (PA)
South Grand Prairie (TX)
Friendswood (TX)

Bishop Lynch should advance but look for many teams in this Pool to be able to score 30+ points against them due to BL’s weakness in the upper weights. It also leaves them little room for error. Austin Bowie could be the best of the rest with 4 or 5 outstanding wrestlers and a solid lineup top to bottom. And don’t count out El Paso Franklin or Shaler, PA who will have the element of surprise and could pull off an upset or two.

Shaler was the 13th place finisher in WPIAL, which doesn’t sound too impressive until you consider this area may be home to the best wrestling in the country. A look at last year’s team shows only two seniors. So almost everyone in their lineup returns, including twins Matt and Nick Nelson who posted 38-4 and 45-2 records wrestling between 125-140. Not too shabby in Pennsylvania. Keep an eye on this team, as they didn’t travel across the country to bow out after one day.